Empathy Isn’t Fragile: Turning Sensitivity into Your Superpower

by Patty Freedman

Do you sometimes feel like you absorb everyone else’s emotions?
People often call themselves an empath—someone who feels things so deeply it can feel overwhelming. On social media, it’s become a popular identity, and while some people celebrate it as a gift, others see it as a curse.

I’ve noticed how easy it is to “catch” someone else’s stress. A friend shares their anxiety, and suddenly I feel it in my own body. At times I’ve wondered: does being so sensitive and attuned to people mean there’s something wrong with me?

At Six Seconds, we see empathy not as fragility but as one of the most powerful capacities in emotional intelligence. When you learn to use it well, empathy becomes a source of strength, connection, and resilience. So let’s dig into the myths and research about empathy.

Empath or Empathy? Debunking the Myth of the “Sensitive Type”

The word empath suggests a special type of person who is destined to feel others’ emotions more deeply than everyone else. That’s the first myth: empathy is not a rare identity, it is a human capacity.

Neuroscience and social neuroscience reviews show that when we resonate with others’ emotional states, brain regions involved in shared affective processing — including the anterior insula and parts of the cingulate cortex — often become active, reflecting neural overlap between self and others’ experiences (Singer & Lamm, 2009; Zaki et al., 2009; Fallon et al., 2020). This is how we experience empathy.

What varies between people is how strongly and how often these systems engage, and whether they’re balanced by brain systems that keep us grounded and put emotions in perspective. Without that balance, the strong messages of empathy can blur the line between your feelings and someone else’s. With balance, empathy can help you connect with others while staying true to your own feelings, becoming a skill we can refine to build trust and relationships
We see this paradox clearly in healthcare. In one study of nurses, higher emotional empathy was linked to compassion fatigue — a vivid example of what happens when resonance overwhelms regulation (Duarte et al., 2016).

The Shadow Side of Empathy: When Feeling Too Much Hurts

The myth is that more empathy is always better. In reality, empathy without boundaries can become overwhelming. Too much unfiltered empathy can feel like an emotional tsunami. When we take on others’ pain as if it were our own, we risk compassion fatigue and burnout.

A recent systematic review in BMC Nursing found that empathy and burnout are closely related, but the impact depends on mediating factors such as emotional regulation and self-care (Zhou et al., 2025). This means that empathy on its own isn’t the problem — it’s empathy without balance.

Importantly, neuroscientists caution us not to confuse empathy with empathic distress. When empathy becomes unregulated, it can tip into emotional contagion — absorbing others’ stress so fully that it overwhelms our own capacity. This empathic distress is what leads to exhaustion and burnout. By contrast, compassion — empathy combined with care, perspective, and regulation — is protective. Studies show that compassion activates brain circuits that sustain resilience and buffer against the costs of emotional overload (Sinclair et al., 2017).

The opportunity is to shift empathy from a source of burnout to a sustainable resource. When paired with regulation — naming feelings, practicing self-care, and keeping perspective — empathy moves beyond emotional contagion and becomes a steady, compassionate presence.

EQ Tools to Protect Your Sensitivity and Empower Your Empathy

If you identify as highly sensitive, the key is not to shut your empathy down but to use it wisely. Research on self-compassion shows that simple practices can reduce stress and prevent burnout (Neff et al., 2020). Here are a few ways to keep empathy empowering rather than overwhelming:

• Anchor in self-empathy. Ask: “What am I feeling right now?” Naming your own emotions first prevents overload.
• Name, don’t blame. Notice others’ feelings without absorbing them: “I sense tension here” instead of “I feel tense.”
• Shift from absorbing to choosing. Instead of carrying someone else’s emotions, decide how you want to respond.

These small shifts turn sensitivity into strength, helping you stay grounded while using empathy as a resource.
📥 For more practices — including a daily reflection and an empathy balance check — download the worksheet Protecting Your Sensitivity, Powering Your Empathy by filling out the form below.

For more articles, I recommend: